Fate
by Kelly of the midnight dawn
Summary: My take on how the episode Fault should have ended.


**Fate**

**Disclaimer: If you think I own them… damn I wanted to make a wise crack about Munch's poor uncle but I'm too sad about that. The short story here is that they are not mine and I do NOT make any money from this story.**

**A/N: I know I already have a post "Fault" story but LivElRocks a lot wrote this wonderful alternate ending for "Fault" which I encourage everyone to check out if you get the chance. Anyway, her story really inspired me and I got to thinking how I would've wanted the episode to end. Originally I wasn't going to post it. I wrote it between working on "Through It All" and chapter nine of "Finding Olivia" and I thought that since I had so many stories going, I just wouldn't post it and just keep it to myself. Of course I can't keep anything to myself. So I sent it to Essy and she convinced me to post it. So between working on chapter two of "Through It All" and chapter nine of "Finding Olivia" and sending some of my stories to my friend Emily, I'm posting my version of what should have happened at the end of "Fault". I hope you all enjoy and please review. Now without further delay I will conclude this author's note before I really start to piss you off.**

"It's all right," he told her as he closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as her fingers released the hold that she had on her gun. _I can't do it. I'm sorry Elliot but I can't shoot him if it means that I'll lose you._ She took a deep shuttering breath "Okay Gitano," she put her hands in the air "Now let him go."

"Olivia," Elliot whispered. He wished she would have taken the shot. If she had, she and Rebecca would have gotten out alive. Now it looked like none of them would. Olivia had put her fate in the hands of the man who had proven himself to be one of the most sadistic people that they had ever faced.

"Good girl," Gitano smiled at her "Now kick the gun over here," he commanded.

Olivia obeyed "Now let him go," she repeated.

"Stand up," Gitano told her and again Olivia obeyed "Come here," he told her and she did.

"Okay," she said when she stood directly in front of Gitano holding her hands up where he could see them "Now let him go."

"I can't do that," Gitano told her "You see, the second that I do and the second that your little friends out there have a clean shot, I'm a dead man."

"Take me instead," Olivia offered without hesitation.

"Olivia," Elliot whispered again "Don't do this."

"You shut up," Gitano turned his attention back to Elliot and made as if he was going to cock the hammer of the gun.

"No!" Olivia said sharply, surprising herself "Please, I'm just as good of a hostage, take me."

Gitano looked between the two detectives for a moment seemingly considering Olivia's proposition. He turned back to Olivia and spoke "If you're just as good then I think I'll take both of you."

"You'll never get out of here with both of us," Elliot told him.

"We'll see about that," Gitano told him. He jammed the gun firmly against Elliot's head and spoke to Olivia "Cuff yourself to him," he ordered.

Olivia pulled out her handcuffs and obliged, cuffing her left wrist to Elliot's right one so that they both stood in front of Gitano. She managed to catch Elliot's eye and she said softly "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Elliot reassured her that he held no ill will against her. Truly he just wanted her to be safe "Listen," he said to Gitano "Let her go. You don't need her to get out of here. You already have me."

Gitano ignored Elliot as he pulled on the chain that connected the handcuffs, pulling the two detectives backwards. They reached the back door of the warehouse and Gitano turned his hostages around so that they were facing the door "Open it," he told Olivia.

She did as she was told. There wasn't a cop in sight in the alley that she saw "All clear," she told Gitano.

"Here's the deal," Gitano explained to both of them as he pushed them towards a parked car whose plates were different from the one that Gitano had stolen in New York "I'll let your little friends have the girl and I get to have some fun with the both of you." He opened the trunk of the car and shoved them both in before slamming the hatch on them.

Inside the trunk, Olivia and Elliot could hear the sound of Gitano opening the driver's side door and starting the car. They felt the movement as the car left the alley and sped away. Olivia reached for her keys and undid the cuffs. With the freedom of being able to move her left arm again she began to try and position herself in the trunk so that she took up as little room as possible so that Elliot could move around as well. She turned her back to him and pressed her face deep into the upholstery in an effort to muffle the sound of her crying. She was crying for Elliot and for the situation that they found themselves in. The upholstery smelled like blood and she had to pull her face away from it before the oater of it overwhelmed her.

"You okay?" Elliot asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I just couldn't take the shot," she whispered "If you died, I wouldn't be able to go on."

"It's okay," Elliot reached out and pulled her into his arms.

"It's not," she whispered back "I tried to save your life and instead I think I just filled out our death certificates," she buried her face in his chest, a gesture which Elliot did not attempt to back away from.

"I wouldn't have taken the shot if it had been you that he grabbed," Elliot admitted as he felt the gravity of the situation settling over him.

"At least Rebecca is safe," Olivia sniffled.

"I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that he doesn't touch you," Elliot said firmly.

"I don't care if he does," she told him "I just want you to be safe."

"We'll both get out of this," he ran a hand through her hair "I promise you." _I have to stay alive,_ he thought _If something happens to me, then she's all alone with no one to watch her back._

There was silence in the car for a long time before Olivia spoke again "I'm sorry about the bus station."

"Don't be," Elliot told her "It was my decision. You did everything right. I'm just lucky that he… that cut… I'm lucky that he didn't take you from me."

Olivia found herself snuggling closer to him "This guy scares me," she admitted.

"Me too," Elliot whispered "But we'll be fine."

"How can you be sure?" Olivia asked, looking into his face in the dim light that came through the cracks between the hatch and the car.

"I have to believe Liv," he told her. He took her hands in his "Prey with me?"

Olivia rarely preyed but when Elliot took her hands and asked her, she did. In the back of a car that sped down the highway, unnoticed by patrol cars, she preyed for Elliot's safety as at the same time, he preyed for hers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had been on the highway for hours as far as either one of them could tell and it didn't seem like they would be stopping anytime soon. The temperature had risen in the trunk by several degrees and it was becoming stuffy and hard to breathe.

"You okay Liv?" Elliot asked. He tried to fan the air with his hand as he spoke.

"I'm all right," she responded "It's hot in here though."

"I know," Elliot responded. Suddenly without warning or purpose, Elliot flung a fist upward in frustration. The trunk popped open with the force of his punch. He would have laughed at how easy that was if they weren't in so much danger. The rush of air hit them both and they found themselves grabbing onto anything and everything they could reach to keep themselves from flying out into the highway.

"We can't jump from the car when its going this fast," Olivia shouted over the roar of the wind in her ears.

"I don't think we have a choice," Elliot called back. The alternative was to stay where they were and let Gitano decide their fate. Elliot looked out at the side of the road and looked back at Olivia "Trust me?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, her tone conveying her confidence in his decisions. She would follow him to hell and back if necessary.

Elliot grabbed her hand "Roll when you hit the ground," was the last thing he said to her before they jumped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gitano had been aware of his captives talking intermittently in the trunk but all of a sudden, their voices were much louder. He looked behind him just in time to see the two of them dive out of the back end of the car. He cursed to himself and turned around to retrieve them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They rolled off the road and down a steep grassy embankment before coming to rest beside each other at the bottom. Elliot felt pain coursing through his body and looked down to see that his leg was at an unnatural angle. He dragged himself to where Olivia lay "Liv," he called softly but desperately "Are you okay?" he needed to hear that she was. He could see that she had apparently faired the jump from the car much worse than he had.

"I'm all right," she managed to whisper back to him through the fog of pain that threatened to claim her.

He could tell that she wasn't "Olivia," he whispered her name, having no other words of comfort that he could offer her. He took the hand of the arm that seemed unbroken and held it "Stay with me," he begged "Someone will find us soon, just stay with me."

"I'm here," she responded and tried to move but the pain forced her to remain where she was.

Elliot heard the sound of footsteps and looked up in an effort to locate the source of the sound only to see Gitano coming towards them with gun drawn. Elliot positioned himself between Gitano and Olivia as best he could as he silently prayed that they would somehow survive this. He saw Gitano grin sadistically as he raised the gun. Elliot couldn't help it as he called out "Leave us alone!"

Gitano just took another few steps towards them and kicked Elliot aside "Don't tell me what to do," he hissed. He bent down beside Olivia and pulled her into a sitting position. Olivia's body protested fiercely to the movement but she didn't scream. Gitano ran the hand that wasn't holding the gun over her body slowly, intermittently pinching and squeezing the parts of her that he found most alluring. He turned to where Elliot was struggling to reach them "Does it bother you?" Gitano asked "Does it bother you that you can't protect her? Does it bother you," he paused as he pushed Olivia to the ground again and ripped off her pants "That you can't prevent this?"

"Get away from her!" Elliot yelled. He struggled and managed to pull himself parallel to Gitano.

Gitano turned and laughed in Elliot's face. With one swift gesture he had pushed the barrel of the gun into Elliot's forehead "What do you think?" he asked Olivia "Should we have an audience."

Olivia laughed "An audience," she was pushing her luck but this was all she could think of "I hear you can only get it up around little kids," she mocked him, hoping to push him to the point where he wasn't thinking clearly.

It was working, Gitano had turned his attention back to Olivia and had lowered the gun "What did you say bitch?" he spoke in a low venomous tone.

Olivia took a deep breath. She was afraid but she had to do this, if they were to have any chance, she had to do this "I said that you can't handle me."

Gitano became infuriated and dropped the gun, grabbing Olivia's throat with both hands "I'll show you bitch. I'll show you." He slammed her repeatedly against the ground.

She smiled slightly when she saw out of the corner of her eye that Elliot had grabbed the gun. As she started to black out, she felt Gitano being pulled off of her. _At least Elliot is safe,_ she thought before the darkness closed over her.

"You bastard," Elliot growled as he held Gitano by his throat "How does it feel?" he asked as he pressed the gun into Gitano's temple "How does it feel to be at the mercy of a crazy man with a gun?"

"You aren't crazy," Gitano answered calmly "You and I both know that you aren't gonna pull that trigger."

Elliot's voice became low and dangerous "You'd better believe I'm crazy," he told the man at his mercy with a pointed glance in Olivia's direction. "Trust me," he continued "I consider it a public service to remove you from the face of the earth."

"Right," Gitano turned to face Elliot "Because the children of the world would be a lot safer. But it's not them you're thinking about right now is it?" Elliot didn't answer and Gitano took that as confirmation "It's her isn't it? You're thinking about her. You're thinking about how you want to make me suffer the way I've made her suffer. We both saw how she was crying in the warehouse. You saw how she surrendered herself so easily, how willing she was to trade her life for yours. You would have done the same thing wouldn't you?" Elliot didn't answer again and again Gitano took it as confirmation "You're in love with her," he grinned "Didn't anyone ever tell you," he reached into his jacket and before Elliot could react, Gitano had pulled out his knife "Never fall in love." Before Elliot could pull the trigger, Gitano had slit his own throat. As the blood poured from him he whispered "I won't let you have the satisfaction of killing me. Consider it a gift. Would you have really been justified in shooting me in the head?" with his last breath he laughed "Don't love her, you'll only cause each other pain," then he was gone, his final words an eerie premonition.

**THE END**

**A/N: This truly is the end, don't you dare ask me to write more of this. You guys just have to deal. I have way too many stories to write anymore for this. Please review and give me some feedback on whether this is good or not.**


End file.
